The Timeless Warrior
by itwasselfdefense
Summary: Samantha has been alive since the rise of the gods. They created her to be a mediator between them. She helped Percy and his friends fight Kronos (and Luke, the boy she loves) in the last war. Now they're up against Gaea, and Percy and Annabeth are trapped in Tartarus.
1. Chapter 1

_ "Sam," Gaea whispered in my ear. She appeared as fog around me, slithering and twisting through the air. A tendril of fog licked at my ear. "You haven't given me an answer. I told you what would happen if you didn't answer, Samantha." Out of the tendril emitted Luke's scream, whispering like far off thunder in my ear. I winced._

_ "I gave you an answer," I said, glad my voice was steady. "I said no."_

_ An area of fog cleared, and there was Luke's spirit. He was bruised and unconscious, but otherwise he was okay. He was chines by the fog and hanging limply at the wrists._

_ "Luke!" I yelled and tried to run to him; I was stopped by an unseen force that held me in place. "Luke, I'm here. You'll be okay," I promised but realized I'd lied when I saw a tendril of fog curl above Luke like a whip._

_ "That was the wrong answer," Gaea growled and brought the whip down on Luke. I screeched as I tried in vain to save him. The fog sliced down and left a massive gash in its wake from his neck to his waist. Luke's cry of pain forced tears to the front of my eyes._

_ "I'm sorry, Luke," I whispered, falling to my knees. I couldn't give Gaea what she wanted, though. I couldn't damn the world for Luke, and he knew I couldn't. He wouldn't want me to either. "I'm so sorry."_

My eyes flickered open, and I sighed. Another nightmare. But Gaea would never get me on her side. In a moment of weakness, I summoned forth an image of Luke. He was in the Fields of Asphodel, still wandering. Safe. I exhaled and stood up.

Another day. Like always I would wake up, take a shower to wash away the sweat, and climb up Mount Olympus to pretend I'd gotten enough sleep to make decisions about the state of the mortal and immortal worlds.

The hot water blasted onto my skin. Being created of all the gods from Boreas, the god of the frigid northern wind, to Apollo, the sun god, I was overwhelmed by the heat, but calmed all the same.

After the fall of the Titans, the gods created me, a mediator, to be able to see from all of their points of view. Basically, in a simpler sentence, they shoved every god's best and worst quality into a big mixing bowl, and out came me. I felt everything in such an awkward, doubled-up way. The cold was a welcome sensation, but simultaneously it made me want to jump into a volcano just to melt through the chill. Needless to say, I was slightly bipolar.

I stepped out of the shower and dried off my legs first, dragging the towel up my defined calves. Twenty thousand years of being a warrior helped with muscle definition. Lastly, I dried out my hair with a violent shake of the towel, tearing it through the dark hair that would change with the seasons: black in the dead of winter, light brown in the spring, bleach-blonde in the dog days of summer, and red in the autumn. With a quick blast of hot air I brought up from the tropics and through the window, I dried my hair.

Throwing on a t-shirt and a pair of worn-in jeans first, I waded out of my apartment and down two flights of stairs. I jogged past manhattan early-morning traffic. The honking of impatient cars and the cooing of impertinent pigeons littered the air and clogged my thoughts. Just around the corner, the Empire State Building loomed, touching the sky.

I tugged up the zipper of my light-weight hoodie and flipped on the hood way over the crown of my head to hide my face. Pushing through the double doors, I ignored the suspicious looks of suited men and women in their thirties and forties. I waited for an empty elevator and willed it up before the woman rushing for it could make it to the door. I didn't need a key, or whatever it was demigods used to get to Olympus. The elevator recognized my celestial aura and took my to the sky. I shoved it faster, and my gut dropped to my feet due to the speed.

The steep cliffs and smooth slopes were covered in snow that the nymphs had lain. The oreads had sculpted the mountain especially for the season, as to be perfectly complimented by the white powder. It was breathtaking. Construction of grand temples and gardens was in place. It was nearly done, due to the speed of the spirits, and it was grand. I was proud of my dear friend Annabeth for her design. Olympus had never looked better.

I took my time traveling to the top of the mountain. Using my powers to keep the snow from seeping into my canvas converse, I trudged upward, admiring every slope. The frozen grass crunched under my feet, and the sharp wind rolled across my cheeks.

The meeting hall, or whatever you want to call it, stood above me. I drew up to her doors, ornate and dark. I summoned a large gust of wind and threw open both doors, keeping my head down. The sound those doors made when they slammed back against the wall echoed down the mountain and down to the streets below.

"Dahlia," Aphrodite groaned, "must you be quite so dramatic?"

"You're half an hour late," said Mars as he flickered in the place or Ares.

"Aphro," I reminded her nonchalantly, "I've gone by Samantha for the last two centuries. Get used to the name already. And yes, it makes this job a bit more bearable." I completely ignored Mars altogether, and Ares flickered back in.

"Ugh!" Aphrodite whined. "I told you not to call me that!"

"And I told you not to call me Dahlia anymore, Deary."

Zeus impatiently drummed his fingers on his massive throne. I was tiny compared to them in this form; I could grow to their size, but I always found it slightly disorientating. I preferred to remain one size.

"We have grave issues to deal with," Zeus said darkly, his mustache twitching wile he talked.

"Hmm..." I slid onto the royal purple cushion in my place beside Zeus. I didn't get a throne because I wasn't "officially" one of the gods.

Poseidon raised his head from his hand. He looked years and years older. "My son-"

"Not now brother!" Zeus roared. "We have much more important matters to deal with-"

"Wait, what?" I stopped Zeus. I was the only being who ever seemed to dare to do that.

"Percy-" Poseidon begged.

"It's not important!" shouted Zeus.

"Percy is in trouble!" I growled. "And no one felt it important to tell me!?"

"Please, Samantha," Poseidon pleaded with his blue eyes. "I need my son safe."

"Where is he?" I said, standing decidedly.

Zeus spun and tried to subdue me, "You could not hope to get him back."

"Yeah, right," I chuckled. "Where is he?"

Poseidon bit his lip. "Tartarus."


	2. Chapter 2

"How the _hell_ did you let that happen?" I roared to everyone in the room.

"They're the ones that fell into the Pit!" Hera sputtered.

"And what were you planning on doing about it!"

Everyone was silent.

I gaped at the room. No one dared to make eye contact. These were their children, their soldiers even. But they had no intention of helping them.

"You're all idiots," I said standing up. "I can't believe that you haven't blown up your world yet." I rolled my eyes and stamped towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hera quipped.

"To save my friends." I turned and curtsied sarcastically, "Your Highness." Then I slammed the doors behind me.

I kicked the snow outside, roaring inwardly. With a quick exasperated sigh I snapped my fingers and willed myself towards Greece.

It wasn't hard to hone in on the location of the Argo II. I landed hard on its deck and moments later weapons were raised towards me from a crowd of unfamiliar faces.

"Woah!" I raised my hands in surrender, showing I had no weapon raised. (Though, there was a very large sword belted to my waist.) "Let's not be so hasty! I'm on your side."

"Who are you?" a blonde boy bared his teeth at me.

I chuckled. "Not one to mess with."

"We're not afraid of you," said a short, dark-skinned girl. "Tell us who you are, or we'll take you out."

I pulled their names from their minds.

"Hazel Grace," I smiled darkly, "We both know that won't happen."

"How do you know my name?"

"Yeah!" cried a Latino boy and a half Asian boy simultaneously. A Hephaestus and a Mars. Gods, Mars was worse than Ares. They both retreated slightly when I turned to look at them.

"Oh!" I held up my index finger, remembering something. "Leo, your daddy is proud of your finds in Rome."

Leo lowered his weapon just a tad. "How do you know-"

"Because," said a dark figure as it hobbled from the ship's cabin. "She's their babysitter." Nico di Angelo.

"Nico!" I proclaimed warmly.

He grinned with one half of his mouth. "Sam." Nico limped through the circle of his fellow demigods to embrace me.

"What happened to you?" I said, pulling back and giving him a onceover.

He shrugged, "Got kidnapped by giants. No biggie."

"Oh right!" I exclaimed. "The twins! Gods, I hate them. Those two are the biggest idiots I've ever-"

"Nico?" Hazel looked confused. "Who-"

"Hey!" I wrinkled my brow. "Didn't anyone ever teach you? It's rude to interrupt?"

Piper, Aphrodite's daughter, growled. "Who _are_ you?"

"Exactly what my pal, Nico, here said," I raised an eyebrow. "The babysitter of the gods." I crinkled my nose. "Ew, what a lame title!"

"And why are you here, then? And not…god-sitting?" Jason interjected.

"Because," I turned to him. "Like always, the gods have messed up. Again. And I have to clean up their mess. Again."

Nico frowned.

"I'm going to go get Percy and Annabeth through Tartarus," I explained. "Alive."

"Wait," Hazel cocked her head to the side. "You know Percy and Annabeth?"

"Yes!" I rolled my eyes. "And for longer than any of you numskulls have! I trained them. I fought with them in the battle in Manhattan."

They lowered their weapons the rest of the way.

"Then why aren't you already in Tartarus, helping them?" Jason challenged.

"She needs my key," Nico answered grimly for me.

"Exacto," I raised my eyes to him.

"You have a key to Tartarus?" Hazel asked her sort-of half-brother.

Nico chewed on his lip.

There was a flash of silence. No one seemed exactly pleased with my appearance, though I could care less. The wind howled around us. Leo shifted back and forth from foot to foot, and Piper glared at me. She didn't appear to enjoy how I had treated her boyfriend. I laughed at the petty "love" they had between them. It was ridiculous. Hazel looked betrayed; why wouldn't her brother share this with her? She didn't know that Nico had many more secrets that no one knew. He was a dark, troubled kid with connections in the darkest parts of the underworld. Frank glanced worriedly at Hazel.

"Why should we let you take the key?" Jason asked, holding the hilt of his sheathed sword tighter.

I sighed. "Wow, are you all so thick headed?" I sauntered towards the bow of the ship.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked. They all followed me with their eyes.

"I'm going to show you who I am."

I pulled my beginning from the depths of my mind. It welled in my center, pulsing hard and fast. I concentrated the memory and projected it forward. Suddenly we were no longer on the Argo II on our way to Greece.

_We were in the center of the earth. The molten, hot core swirled and glowed between the demigods and me. The six kids stumbled back in a moment of terror. The children of Kronos, fifteen feet tall each, stood around the core. The fates mumbled a dark song of summoning. Each of the gods drew from their center mass a glowing orb, bright and powerful. This orb contained a part of their powers, an essence which every god had. One by one, into the core they dropped the orbs._

_The core began to swirl with every color. The core had been infused with every point of importance in humanity and over the earth. The fates mumbling grew to chanting, the chanting to screeching. The core began to shake furiously. A sudden beacon of light shot straight from the core to the north. The beacon fanned out until it came back together, pointing towards the south. There, in the wake of the beacon, atop the core, was a child. A toddler._

_Zeus picked up the child. He held her high, for his brothers and sisters to see. She glowed dimly and giggled at the faces she saw._

"_This child," Zeus announced, "will grow. She will mature at the average rate of a human being. But at the age of one and twenty, she will freeze. She will have a power beyond that of any one of us, but not enough to overpower all of us. Her purpose is to remind us, even in our selfishness, that there is more for us to protect. We are the rulers of a world now, and we must care for it to the best of our ability."_

I let the image fade, and we were on the Argo II once more.

"_What was that?_" cried a shaken Leo.

"My birth," I said.

Somebody cursed, and Frank ran to the edge of the boat to vomit over the ledge. He came back, apologizing for his weak stomach.

"That could've been anyone," Piper said suspiciously.

I shook my head. "I can only bring forth the image of events I've witnessed."

"So…" Leo thought this over, "You're like a mini-god."

I cringed. "No. I'm a mediator. An arbitrator. I settle debates, clean up messes, fight wars, and negotiate between the gods and humans."

"You're a messenger," Jason raised an eyebrow.

"No," I snapped. "Hermes is a messenger. Iris is a messenger. I am a dispute settler. If the gods are having an argument, I have the final say. I am stronger than any one god."

Nico was quiet.

"I need the key, Nico," I turned to him.

"Why can't you open Tartarus yourself?" Frank asked.

"None of the gods can open the gates to Tartarus without the key. There is only one key," I snapped at him. "And Nico stole it." I stretched my hand out to him.

"So you're going to go alone," Nico said solemnly.

I shrugged. "I don't think there's anyone who wants to go with me."

I felt someone's mind sputter with curiosity when I said that. But I didn't care enough to pinpoint whose mind it was.

Nico wrinkled his eyebrows. "No one should go in there alone."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, I looked Nico in the eye. "You've been to the depths of hell and back, my friend. No living soul should ever see such darkness. But I have touch Tartarus before. And I must do this now. For Percy and Annabeth."

He nodded.

"I'll meet you in Greece," I assured him. "Then we'll lock those buggers up for good. You hear me?"

"Yeah," he smiled with the very corner of his mouth.

The hurt, the pain mulling in his dark eyes cut at my heart. Compassion ran deep through my veins, and I wished to steal this pain from him. I concentrated on the memory of Tartarus still in his mind. I gently tugged out some of the imprint it left. I watched his eyes lighten just the slightest.

When the tiny memory I had pulled hit me, I gasped aloud. I stumbled back and gripped the edge of the ship. I didn't expect something this harsh, and I began hyperventilating over the edge.

"What did you do!" Nico cried.

Still gasping for breath, I struggled to get my diaphragm working properly again. "I…didn't…expect…that!"

"You took away some of my memory of Tartarus!" Nico realized. His dark eyes turned into fire. "Why would you do that?"

"I…" I was getting my air back.

"Those are my memories!" Nico shouted. "You have no right!"

Wide eyed, I searched for a response, "You're just a child, Nico."

"Don't you _ever_ do that again!" he raged.

"I'm sorry," I shook my head. "I couldn't help myself. You're hurting so much, Nico. And I've lived for thousands of years. You have so much ahead of you. You don't need that baggage."

"And you have the rest of eternity to feel the pain!" he shouted. "My pain is my own burden, Sam. Don't try to take it for me." He pulled a chain from around his neck. He threw it against the deck, and it bounced towards me. The key to Tartarus glimmered at the end. Nico stormed off towards the below decks.

"You took his memories?" Hazel looked horrified.

"No." I said, pulling myself to my feet, "The memories are still in his mind. But I found one, tiny memory of Tartarus and pulled away the pain. It is still a memory, but a numb one. It was simply a flash of Tartarus. I just wished to bring him a tiny bit of peace…I didn't expect it to be so monumental."

"You mean," Jason raised an eyebrow, "You took some of Nico's pain and made it your own?"

"Yes." I shook my head. "But he'll get over it."

"But will you?" Leo asked, raising his eyes to look at me.

I shrugged. Leaning forward, I picked the key off the deck and looked it over.

"You can't go to Tartarus alone," Jason said after a while.

"Who's to stop me?" I glared at him.

He stepped forward. "I mean, you won't be going alone."

I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I'm coming with you."

I laughed. "Yeah right, buckaroo. Your team needs you."

"Yeah," Piper grabbed his arm protectively. "You can't go to Tartarus, Jason."

He looked back at her. "I have to. You and the others will go to Greece. And Percy, Annabeth, Sam, and I will meet you there."

"You're kidding," I said.

"No." He shook his head. "You'll need a trained swordsman with you."

I was so confused. I gestured to the sward at my belt. "I'm a centuries-old immortal being, and you think I don't know how to use this thing?"

"Well-"

I just started laughing. "Kid, I trained the first Jason!"

"It doesn't matter," he tried another approach. "Like Nico said, no one should travel through there alone."

"Jason!" Piper interjected. "You can't just leave us!"

"You guys will be fine," he assured her.

"Fine!" I groaned. "Say your goodbyes fast then."

"No!" Piper yelped.

"I'm sorry, Pipes," he held her close. "I have to do this."

Piper nuzzled his neck. "Please, Jason," she pleaded. "Stay with me."

"I have to go. " He lifted her head to meet his eyes. Jason Kissed Piper full on. She pulled her fingers through his hair. And I just stood there, looking on cynically.

He pulled away and said an informal goodbye to the rest of his friends.

"Come on," I ushered Jason along. "You'll need to grab-"

"You're right," Nico's dark voice came from the shadows. "You won't have any problem in Tartarus, Sam. But to get there, you have to pass Elysium. And _that_ will kill you."

My heart stopped. "He made it to Elysium?"

"Who?" asked Frank, but neither Nico nor I cared to answer him.

"Of course," Nico shrugged. "But for people with that much pain in their past life, you have to completely remove their memory to help keep them happy."

"No," I whispered. I shook my head fiercely. "They can't"

"He's _dead_," Nico said sharply, just to make sure the word cut into me. "They can do whatever they want."

My face turned stern. I turned to Jason, "Grabbed my shoulder. This is going to be the weirdest sensation you've ever had in your life."

"What? Why?"

"We're dropping straight into the underworld." I looked forward and glared at Nico. "Three…two…one."


	3. Chapter 3

Gravity pushed us down and the earth swallowed us whole. We rushed through the dark earth that surrounded us on all sides. When I felt the Underworld's cavern opening below us, I slowed our descent. We landed on the inner shore of the River Styx.

The gates of the Underworld towered above us. Cerberus growled at incoming souls. And skeleton guards stood at attention. Far to the East I could hear the Archeron and Cocytus, and far to the West the Styx broke into the Lethe and the Phlegethon. The three doors that Cerberus guarded decided a soul's fate. They could risk the Judgment Pavilion, or just choose the Fields of Asphodel.

"Oh," Jason gulped.

"Never been to the Underworld before?"

He shook his head.

"Well," I started forward. "It's even worse inside the gates."

"Great," Jason groaned sarcastically and caught up to me.

"Hey, Cerberus!" I cried to the immensely tall dog.

He turned towards me, growling. But as soon as he smelt me he began to pant with excitement. I scratched his ankles, and he reached down to lick me.

"I guess you've met before," Jason rolled his eyes.

"Mhmm…" I gave the three-headed creature one more good scratch before going towards the Fields of Asphodel.

Jason stayed close behind me as we wandered through the field of hollow souls. They wisped about, lazy and indifferent. The worst kind of eternity, if you asked me.

"So," Jason jumped away from a spirit when it got too near him. "These souls can't remember anything."

"They can remember," I said grimly. "They just don't care."

"That's horrible."

"Yep. And most of these souls chose this. They were too afraid to risk the Fields of Punishment. Though, very few of them would ever be cast there."

He followed in silence. We passed by Hades's palace, not bothering to stop by. He would sense our presence. Jason gaped at Persephone's eerie jewel garden. It always gave me the shivers. I'd never enjoyed Persephone all that much. She was too whiny and needy for my liking.

Elysium shined far off in the distance. A lump formed in the pit of my stomach. But I trudged on, dragging my feet through the dirt.

"So, who's in Elysium?" Jason asked, glancing up at me guiltily.

I gnawed on my lip for a moment. "Many people. I've met almost every hero in the legends."

He gave me an irritated look.

I sighed. "The man that doomed us all in the battle against Kronos. The Battle at Manhattan."

Jason knit his brow. "Then why is he in Elysium?"

"He sacrificed himself in the end to save us all."

Jason nodded. "But why would that kill you?"

I chuckled drily. "…I have a habit of falling for those I can't keep, or those who don't want to keep me."

"Which one was it with him?"

"A little bit of both."

Jason thought carefully. "You know, I don't really know the story of what happened on this end. Just snippets here and there from Annabeth and Percy."

I sighed and continued to walk slowly towards Elysium. "Kronos had found a way to slip a bit of his consciousness out of Tartarus. There are weak spots in very prison. He sent nightmares to many unclaimed demigods, trying to get them secretly working for him. One demigod he targeted was Luke Castellan. Luke had been claimed by his godly father, Hermes, but he hated him. When Luke was a new born, his mother, May, had tried to take on the role of Oracle. But it went extremely wrong. The curse Hades put on the Oracle long ago infected her. She went mad, seeing more than any mortal should. Luke hated his father and the other gods for it.

"Luke found his way, through many heart-breaking experiences, to Camp Half-Blood when he was sixteen. It was a miracle that he and Annabeth made it. Their friend, Thalia, did not. But that's a whole other story. I trained him. More than anyone else, I wanted him to succeed. He had so much potential, so much promise. And…I fell in love with him.

"Kronos plagued him with nightmares and visions of revenge. He could abolish the gods which he had seen do so much injustice. He thought they could make a world where everyone was treated rightly. What he seemed to forget was Kronos. Kronos, the titan who ate his children just to keep his place on the throne.

"Luke ran from Camp Half-Blood and became Kronos's vessel. They used the power of demigods turning from their parents to fuel Kronos's regeneration. Kronos took Luke's body, turned his eyes gold, and began to start a war. Kronos raised other titans, and they caused chaos. They charged upon Mount Olympus when the time was right. Camp Half-Blood fought of the attack for hours before the gods arrived, still fighting another titan. So many of our fellow demigods, our friends, our family died in that battle.

"At the top of Mount Olympus, in the throne room, Kronos tried to destroy Olympus. Percy, Annabeth, and I tried to stop him. But in the end it was Luke. The small bit of him that was still repressed inside that body saw Annabeth, a sister to him, hurt, and he used Kronos's own sword. He plunged the blade straight into his own body, taking himself and Kronos to the Underworld."

The gates of Elysium loomed overhead. They glowed as the gates of heaven were said to. Inside wasn't heaven, but it was nicer than the rest of the Underworld. I flashed a look towards the gatekeeper. The skeleton gestured to his partner, and they pulled open the gates for us.

Jason thought over what I had told him. "Luke just happened to be the vessel. It could have been anyone. But, I guess it was lucky that Luke happened to be picked. Because, despite his darker side, Luke was obviously not a _bad guy_. And in the end, he was the only one that could stop Kronos."

I nodded and led Jason in. The streets glowed with gold cobble stones. Giant white mansions towered above our heads. Contented spirits wafted through the streets, their voices now louder than a murmur. My heart picked up, and I stepped stiffly. There were so many people I knew here, my past lives all splayed out before me. Anton, a roman soldier I had married long ago strode past with his head held high. I smiled at him, but he didn't see me. Usually the people in Elysium didn't remember their past lives, or it was a blur. Valiant people seem to emerge from horrible lives. The furies removed their memories as to preserve their peace in the afterlife.

Jason flinched every time a spirit touched him. Instead of bouncing off, the astral beings simply swept through him, most likely leaving a cool shiver in their wake. A spirit walked directly through his body, and Jason had to stop in his tracks to cringe.

"It's always a bit unnerving the first time that happens," I smiled.

He raised his eyebrows, "Uh, yeah. I-"

"Hey you!" I heard a voice call.

My heart stopped. It was him.

"Hello, Miss?"

I turned. Luke was coming towards me with an outstretched hand. Seeing him again, it made my heart twist. I felt a churning in the pit of my stomach, and tears welled in my eyes.

"Luke," I whispered.

Jason watched in disbelief.

"Was that my name?" Luke asked dumbly. "Hmm…Anyways! Are you, by chance, a goddess?"

"…Of sorts."

It was true what Nico said. His memory was gone. There wasn't even a flicker when he saw me. He didn't remember at all. Gods, how I wished they could do that to me. The pain in my chest, it was as if someone had plunged a sword through my ribs. And that had happened to me before.

"Good!" He looked at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked after a long pause.

He looked oddly excited. "Well, I don't remember much of my past life, but I remember this woman with crazy eyes. She told me I would die a horrible death, but a woman would save me. The most beautiful goddess would save me. And you're the most magnificent creature I've ever seen."

"You-they-your-wait, what?"

"You're supposed to raise me from the dead," he crinkled his eyebrows. "You _can_ do that, right?"

"Yes I can-"

"Good!"

"I mean-no! I can't raise you from the dead! I'm not allowed!"

Jason leaned forward. "Um, you don't strike me as the kind of girl who follows too many rules."

"But this one I will!" I shook my head. "There are too many repercussions! And if I let you live, then anyone else should be allowed to live!"

"But the woman said-"

"I don't care what she said, Luke!" I held back the tears that were blurring my vision.

Luke paused. His scar. His scar was gone. "Did we…know each other?"

"Yes," I sighed, falling onto the golden bench behind me.

"What happened?" he asked, timidly sitting at the edge of the bench.

"Horrible things."

As smart as always, Luke read me in an instant. "The way you look at me…I did something, didn't I?"

"Oh," I assured him, "It wasn't just you. I-"

"What did I do?" he said quickly. "Why do other people remember their lives, but I don't?"

I sighed. "There is so much sorrow in your story, Luke."

"But isn't it our sorrows that make us? I want to know."

"No, you don't," I shook my head vigorously. I stood, and he stepped towards me.

"Please."

"Elysium is a place of peace. Souls here are meant to experience a maximum happiness and inner peace. By giving you your memories I would be affecting that peace. You wouldn't be as happy as everyone else, and I can't do that."

"I'm not me without my past," he urged.

Something inside me screamed. I knew how true it all was. There was a different look in his eye. This wasn't him. I wanted so badly to give him what he wanted, to return his memories and his life. But it was wrong to do something like that; when it came to life and death, I couldn't pick favorites.

Jason grabbed my arm and yanked me to the side.

"Wha-"

"Why don't you just bring him back?" Jason hissed.

"Because it's wrong!"

"But you're _miserable_."

I rolled my eyes. "I've always been miserable, Jason. I live longer than everyone I love. I'm used to people dying."

"But-"

"But nothing! I _can't_ do this. I can't raise him."

"But some oracle lady predicted you would," Jason pointed out. "That means it was meant to happen, right?"

"No!" I screeched

"But-"

"Sam?" Luke whispered.

He said my name. He remembered my name. My name…It sounded so sweet on his tongue.

"How did you…?" I turned around to look him in the eye.

He was grinning from ear to ear. "Sammy," he whispered again. "I remember you. Just you."

"How?" I asked hollowly.

"I don't know!" he laughed gleefully. "But I know you!"

Luke threw his arms around me and lifted me off the ground. He spun me around, laughing all the while.

"Oh! Sam," he leaned in and pecked a kiss on my forehead. "Oh gods, you're as gorgeous as ever."  
"Luke," I whispered, pained.

"What is it, babe?"

"What do you remember about me?"

He blinked confusedly. "This feeling, when I see you. It's like you're my best friend. Like I;ve known you forever."

I smiled softly. "Remember that feeling, Luke. Remember me."

"I will," he looked confused.

I turned and began walking towards Tartarus.

"What?" Jason called.

"Where are you going?" Luke chased after me and grabbed my arm.

"I'm leaving," I said. "Jason and I have things to do."

"But you can't leave me here," Luke began. "I-"

"Oh, but I can!" I growled, done with his pleading. "I'm leaving you here, and you will deal with it!"


End file.
